This is the first book I've finished in weeks. I'm slumping. Or I've just been distracted by video games lately. Or I've been trying to actually be asleep by a decent time. Or I just had a string of so many fantastic books that I'm still suffering major book hangover. Any and all of those things just might be true. 

I really enjoyed the first three Sano Ichiro books. The characters and the setting were both so intriguing. Rowland does a masterful job bringing historical Japan to live and immersing the reader in samurai culture. 

Then in the fourth book, Sano went and got himself a wife. That's fine. People get married all the time. The creation of heirs is important. Reiko is suppose to be Sano's equal. She's suppose to be a rare woman of the age. She reads. She writes. She's suppose to have above average intelligence. Only two of those things are true. Reiko is kind of an idiot. Reiko is so determined to show that she's an equal that she gets nasty tunnel vision. She makes a lot of bad choices. Those choices usually result in her being rescued by the men she so desperately wants to be equal to. Newsflash, if they have to constantly save you from yourself, you probably aren't going to be invited to come with. I thought maybe Reiko's experiences in book four would be enough to teach her a few lessons. As it stands, I learn as slowly as Reiko. 

I'm sort of dreading future installments of this series. Sad.

Read 2/12/2020 - 2/29/2020

Book 15 of 75

Apparently I finished five books in February. I find that a little funny since it felt like I didn't actually read anything during February. February is always kind of a funny month for me. I think it's the weather. Of course, compared to the epic tantrum Mother Nature had last year, this February has been delightful. 

I was able to finish books so rapidly at the beginning of the month because I was working a long-term sub position with a lot of downtime. Once I was back at home, I had a harder time justifying sitting around and reading all the time. I also think starting The Name of the Rose has been a partial road block. It's just one of those books that takes so much energy, I have nothing else to give to other books. Typically I bring a book with when I am waiting to get my girls off the school bus. For the last few weeks I haven't even done that. Is it considered a slump even if you're still reading? 

Anyway- Books from February

Seven for a Secret (Timothy Wilde #2) - Lyndsay Faye

*4 and a half stars. I can't recommend this series enough

Ribbons of Scarlet - Various Authors

*5 stars. The best book I've read so far this year. Go back and see my review and reading updates. I can't talk about it again. I'll cry.

Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women #1) - Evie Dunmore

3 and a half stars. Not my normal genre but not a bad read.

A Vision of Light (Margaret of Ashbury #1) - Judith Merkle Riley

3 and a half stars. Not sure what it is about this book that puts it on the list of historical fiction must reads, but it was an enjoyable book.

The Samurai's Wife (Sano Ichiro #5) - Laura Joh Rowland

3 Stars. This series is going downhill fast. I'm hesitant to read the next installment. 

2018

Go here for the books I read in August this year!

2017

A Plague of Angels by Sheri S. Tepper

My review

My review

2016

The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett

My review

2015

Samurai Jack, Vol. 1 by Jim Zub

As fun as the cartoon had been!

2014

The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper

I'm beginning to appreciate Tepper's writing I think. This book started the way most books based on a dichotomous society would start. The women were good for breeding and whoring. The men enlisted in the military and lorded over the women. But the twist at the end took me by surprise! Read my appreciation of her other book here.

2013

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

While political strife forms the backdrop in this book, our focus is on one family trying to get through all the chaos in one piece. I loved every bit of this book! This was my first book by Adichie and I can't wait to try the others.

2012

Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore

Irreverent as heck but laugh out loud funny is how I'd describe Moore's humor. In this book, a conman meets The Conman i.e. Coyote, the trickster god. Hilarity ensues!

Though the middle is maybe a little slack, this is an excellent bildungsroman in the alt-history suggested by The Man in the High Castle, run half a century later and into the life of one small boy who aims to pilot one big ass robot. 

I didn't like Koji, I couldn't connect with Tatsu whose annoying overuse of Japanese made him even less appealing to me, I did not understand Arisada's love for a traitor and a cheater, I couldn't figure out why some of the characters were in the book to begin with, even less so why they deserved their own POV. Editing was poor. As in you're/your poor. Half imaginary star (since GR doesn't deal in halves) to make it up to 2 is for the truly evil villain. I liked him.